Lamar Odom To Mavericks

Lamar Odom To Mavericks, Don’t get Lamar Odom’s feeling “a little disrespected” after the Lakers dangled him as bait to land Chris Paul. Especially from a guy who has been moved a few times before.

After 12 years in the Association, Odom should know trades and getting younger/better are as much a part of big-time professional sports as insane contracts. Odom’s sentiment is consistent with a pro sports culture that is lined up to have its feelings hurt.

This guy is a tremendously gifted player who has proven to be durable, reliable and nearly a double-double guy for years. On paper, he adds something to the defending champs. The guy can do everything.
Trading Odom is not that big of a deal. Deals go down all the time. But trading him to a conference contender that is coming off a title? That’s a big deal.

“No. 1 rule is you don’t trade within your division or your conference. Nobody was nice enough to trade me in my own division,” former NBA All-Star and current NBA TVanlyst Chris Webber said Tuesday on a conference call. “He gets that.”

The Lakers are a lot of things, but dumb isn’t usually one of them. Why would they do this to a conference rival for so little in return – a protected first-round pick?

Odom said he wanted no part of New Orleans, but wanted out of L.A. after he learned of the deal to get Paul. This happens all the time, and normally management comes to the player and both sides kiss and make up and everyone moves on.

This reminds me of the time when the New England Patriots traded quarterback Drew Bledsoe to division rival Buffalo in 2002. It wasn’t that the Patriots were just committed to Tom Brady, it was that they were saying we are so convinced Bledsoe can’t hurt us we will trade him to a team we see twice a year. The Bills’ best record with Bledsoe was 9-7 in 2004, his last year before coming to Dallas.